Gonzales

It is a delicious coincidence. Mark McLemore washes out of the California Angels organization and ends up getting regular playing time at second base in Baltimore. Rene Gonzales never gets a chance to play regularly with the Orioles and ends up as the everyday second baseman in California.That's right. Gonzo, the consummate utility man, has supplanted promising Bobby Rose in the Angels lineup. He has five home runs and has been one of the club's most productive hitters, entering yesterday with a .333 batting average and an even bigger smile on his face than usual.

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales faced more stinging criticism yesterday as a senior Republican lawmaker said President Bush's longtime aide had hurt the administration, the Justice Department and his own standing in his latest effort to explain the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. Referring to Gonzales' high-profile appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee late last week, Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said, "The attorney general's testimony was very, very damaging to his own credibility.

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department has broadened an internal probe examining whether aides to Attorney General Albert R. Gonzales improperly took into account political considerations in hiring department employees, officials familiar with the investigation said yesterday. The expanded probe, by the department's Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility, follows testimony Wednesday by former Gonzales aide Monica Goodling. She told a House committee that she considered party affiliation in screening applicants to become immigration judges.

WASHINGTON -- A year ago, Alberto R. Gonzales sat before the Senate Judiciary Committee as the Bush administration's nominee for attorney general and a potential candidate for the Supreme Court. He will return tomorrow in drastically different circumstances to testify as the chief legal defender of a domestic eavesdropping operation that has touched off a stormy debate over its legality. Gonzales, who as White House counsel provided legal support for the program of surveillance without warrants, is scheduled to be the sole witness before a panel led by Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, who has made clear his skepticism about the administration's legal rationale.

WASHINGTON - White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, President Bush's nominee for attorney general, is likely to face withering questions from Senate Democrats today that suggest he is a yes-man for Bush and has given the president a green light to pursue damaging policies, particularly regarding torture, rather than providing wise legal guidance. A disparate collection of religious and human rights groups, military law experts and retired senior military officers has come forward to demand that Gonzales explain his counsel to Bush, especially as it relates to the treatment of prisoners captured in the war on terrorism.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, told by President Bush to repair relations with Congress over his handling of the U.S. attorneys affair, appeared to take a step backward yesterday, suffering new and withering criticism from senators of both parties, including questions about his judgment, candor and fitness to serve. Grim-faced and contrite, Gonzales, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in what one lawmaker called a "reconfirmation hearing," apologized for what he described as a flawed process in which a group of young political appointees at the Justice Department led a review that resulted in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year.

WASHINGTON - Facing intense grilling at his Senate confirmation hearing, attorney general nominee Alberto R. Gonzales vowed that the Bush administration would not tolerate torture of terror suspects and that under his leadership the Justice Department would prosecute those who abuse U.S.-held prisoners. Gonzales, author of a 2002 White House memo that Democrats said led to the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees by American soldiers, said the photos from Abu Ghraib prison "sickened and outraged me, and left a stain on our nation's reputation."

WASHINGTON -- Succumbing to months of criticism over his honesty and leadership, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales announced his resignation yesterday, giving President Bush an opportunity to set the Justice Department on a fresh course during the final 17 months of his administration. Gonzales had been weakened by scrutiny of his involvement in the firings of U.S. attorneys and his pursuit of a secretive warrantless wiretap program that has distressed defenders of civil liberties.

EMMITSBURG - White House Chief Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales tried to convince a group of graduates at a Roman Catholic college in Western Maryland that he deserved his place as their commencement speaker yesterday, despite having advised then-Gov. George W. Bush on legal issues that sent some Texas inmates to their death. "I really didn't know what would happen," said Gonzales, who feared students and staff at Mount St. Mary's College might renew their protest of his appearance. The Catholic Church opposes capital punishment, and some on the campus have denounced his selection as speaker.

For a decade, the soaring legal career of Alberto R. Gonzales has been entwined with the political rise of George W. Bush. But as Gonzales is discussed as a possible candidate for the Supreme Court, his lengthy resume and longtime ties to the president have emerged, unexpectedly, as a potential liability. One issue, pressed in recent days by some conservative activists, is whether a 1974 federal ethics law would force Gonzales to disqualify himself when issues he has worked on as part of the Bush administration - most prominently, the White House's aggressive response to the Sept.